Turner Gets the September Call-Up

Sept. 8, 2009

Baltimore, Maryland -
Former Cal Sate Fullerton All-American infielder Justin Turner will get his chance at the big league level as the Baltimore Orioles called up the 24 year old infielder Tuesday afternoon. He joined the team tonight in Boston as the Orioles faced the Red Sox in the first game of a two-game set at Fenway Park.

Turner became the 47th former Titan to play in a major league game, and the first since his former Titan teammate Ricky Romero did on Mar. 9 this season with the Blue Jays. Turner went 0-for-2 (strikeout and fly to right) in his big league debut. He came on as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and stayed in an played third base for the Orioles in the 10-0 loss.

Turner played 108 games for the Norfolk Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the International League and hit .300 with 2 home runs and 43 RBI this season. Turner was a seventh round selection by the Cincinnati Reds in 2006 and was later traded to Baltimore, along with Brandon Waring and Ryan Freel, for Ramon Hernandez on Dec. 10, 2008.

"Red," as he was know around Titan baseball, was a four-year letterman for former Fullerton Head Coach George Horton, posting a career .328 batting average with four home runs and 157 RBI from 2003-06. The Bellflower native was the 2006 Co-Big West Conference Player of the Year and was also a Big West first teamer and All-American that same year. Turner in four seasons as a starter made three trips to the College World Series and was a part of the 2004 national championship squad.

Turner holds four single-season fielding percentage records as an infielder and posted a .985 career mark - the highest career fielding percentage by any middle infielder. He also ranks second in games played (253), at bats (1008), hits (331) sacrifice bunts (38), fourth in runs (202), doubles (61), hit by pitch (36), and tenth in RBI (157).